The Orange County Sheriff’s Office lobbied the Florida legislature to make it easier for them to crack down on law-breaking nightclubs and hookah lounges, according to public disclosures, and now that they’ve succeeded, Orange County commissioners are getting on board.
Last week, the Orange County board of commissioners approved an update to county law, adding the unlawful sale of alcohol on two or more occasions within a 12-month period to the county’s definition of what constitutes a “public nuisance.”
This gives enforcement action for illegally selling alcohol not just to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, but also the county’s nuisance abatement board. The penalties for unlawfully selling alcohol at establishments — including the sale of alcohol without proper licensing — will also increase.
Austin Moore, attorney for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, told commissioners last week that the sheriff’s office has seen “an explosion” in after-hours clubs in the county over the last three or four years, bringing with them violent crime, drug sales, even rumors of human trafficking. “Because the money is so good, everyone is trying to get into this business,” Moore explained.
Mayor Jerry Demings, a former Orange County Sheriff and Orlando police chief, motioned to approve the changes last week. Four commissioners — Emily Bonilla, Mayra Uribe, Christine Moore and Maribel Gomez Cordero — voted with Demings to approve them. Commissioners Mike Scott and Nicole Wilson were absent for the vote.
These moves by the county didn’t begin at a local level, but came in response to a new state law approved by Republican Gov. DeSantis this year (SB 1090) that increases penalties for the unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages and authorizes local governments to declare the crime a public nuisance.
Effective July 1, business establishments that are declared a “public nuisance” in Orange County will be subject to fines of up to $15,000 and liens. The unlawful sale of alcohol by commercial establishments — a term that is not defined under the new measure — will also change from a second-degree misdemeanor charge to a third-degree felony charge.
A third-degree felony is punishable by a fine of up to $15,000 for a first violation and up to five years’ prison time. A second or subsequent violation will constitute a second-degree felony, punishable by a fine of up to $20,000 and up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Under current law, a third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years prison time and a fine of up to $5,000. Effective July 1, that maximum fine will increase.
Perhaps more interesting to local readers, however, is that these changes to state law — thus paving the way for changes on a local level — appear to have been driven by a call to action last fall from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, with Orange County Sheriff John Mina demanding state legislators take action.
“Even if we shut these places down, they’re just opening back up the next day,” Mina told Spectrum News 13 in October, following a shooting at a West Orlando hookah lounge that injured three people.
Sheriff’s Office investigators had said they believed the hookah lounge was illegally selling alcohol without a proper license. Mina argued that current penalties for such a crime weren’t enough to deter violations.
“They don’t care about the little $500 fine,” Mina continued. “But if we’re putting owners and employees in jail awaiting felony charges, which could lead up to prison, we think there [sic] may have greater consequences.”
A staff analysis of the new state measure reveals that the OCSO’s call to action made a difference.
The Spectrum News article, reporting on the law enforcement agency’s demands last fall, was cited in the bill analysis, which notes that representatives of the OSCO “indicated that many after-hours clubs and hookah lounges serve alcoholic beverages without a liquor license and that the current penalty of a second degree misdemeanor has had little deterrent effect.”
Florida House of Representatives
A staff analysis of Senate Bill 1090 (2024) by the Senate rules committee.
Public lobbying disclosure records show the Orange County Sheriff’s Office also lobbied in favor of the measure as it moved through the state Legislature this year — and was the only sheriff’s office in the state to do so.
Sheriff’s Office attorney Moore wasn’t shy about this in his presentation to county commissioners last week, admitting they went to their legislative team to look for “legislative solutions” that would “provide the deputies some better tools to kind of address these clubs.”
The bill addressing their complaints, sponsored by Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin of Fort Myers, was approved by state legislators in both chambers unanimously, and signed into law by DeSantis in April.
Under Orange County code, defining the unlawful sale of alcohol a “public nuisance” will allow the county to pursue code violations “and other abatement strategies” (according to a county comptroller handout) in addition to siccing sheriff’s deputies on clubs that sell alcohol without a license or in any other way that violates local law.
The unlawful sale of alcohol at a place or premise may only be declared a public nuisance, under the new changes, if such a sale occurs on two or more occasions within a 12-month period.
Other things described as a public nuisance under county code include any place or premise alleged to have been used for prostitution or as a spot where people illegally possess or use controlled substances, among other things.
According to county code, the opportunity to allege a “place or premise” has become a public nuisance is open to any Orange County resident, employee, or officer. Doing so requires filing a complaint with the sheriff’s office, which will then review the complaint for “legal sufficiency.”
If the complaint clears that hurdle, the sheriff’s office will then notify the establishment of the complaint, and give them a “reasonable time” (this isn’t specified) to correct whatever has caused a “public nuisance.” If the establishment doesn’t do this, the sheriff’s office is authorized to refer the case to the county’s Nuisance Abatement Board and request a hearing.
New changes would provide the county — in addition to the criminal justice system — with more regulatory power to go after business establishments that break the law.
If violations continue, the nuisance abatement board would also have the authority to shut the establishment down. But the goal is to bring them into compliance first, before such threats or actions are necessary.
Such changes come as the city of Orlando similarly takes steps to reign in the nightlife scene in downtown Orlando, with city officials considering permanent limits on the opening of new nightclubs.
Last year, the city similarly placed a moratorium on new nightclubs, with limited exceptions, and established new security and permit requirements for downtown establishments that want to legally sell alcohol after midnight.
Are you a business owner or employee who has been affected by new restrictions on local nightlife? We want to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected].
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McKenna Schueler
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